The young members of the Syracuse football team love the Orange's new helmets.

The traditionalists in the Syracuse athletic department? Well, they're glad the players are happy.

"I like the all blue, we splashed some Orange in there," defensive back Darius Kelly said. "It's a good look, a real good look. I love it."

"I loved the helmets," wide receiver Ashton Broyld said. "I wish we could play in them every day. We get to play in these? We got to win in them."

Syracuse resembled the Blue Man Group while debuting the brand-new helmets on Saturday against Tulane. During last week's home opener, Syracuse wore all-blue pants for the first time.What do you think of Syracuse's new helmet? The two-toned top includes metallic blue on the top and front, transitioning diagonally to metallic orange as the eyes move down and back. The orange block "S" traditionally associated with Syracuse is featured prominently on the center on each side.

The color the school is best known for appeared on SU's shoes, helmet, undershirts and in small amounts on the jersey.

"The traditionalist, which I'm a traditionalist, will say, 'Why are you changing the helmet?'" Shafer said. "I get that. But I went back through our Hall of Fame area and I looked at all the uniforms from the past. We aren't wearing three-quarter sleeves anymore with stripes down the elbow and we're not wearing old helmets. Times change. Whether I love it or not doesn't matter. It's about the kids that put it on the line, the players that put it on the line."

While that might seem blasphemy to historians, the Orange athletic department considers the switch to be joining the modern age, a program swapping its rotary phone for a cell phone.

"It's not like we're the first to the gate on this," said Giansante, Syracuse's executive senior associate athletics director/chief communications officer. "I think it's great that the football program is recognizing what's actually happening out there. You have to be blind not to see what's happening out there. The kids we're recruiting were born in 1997. They didn't speak English until 2000."

Over the past five years uniforms have gotten more and more outrageous and outlandish, a trend epitomized by Oregon but a concept that has also been used by Maryland, Arizona State, Boise State and many others.

Even teams with long histories and legacies such as Notre Dame and Michigan have debuted alternative jerseys. Oregon's tremendous rise as a power program has been attributed at least partially to uniforms that offend traditional senses but attract recruits.

"For young guys coming up they want to look good, play good, feel good," Kelly said.

Syracuse's seniors choose what to wear each week, so the Orange will likely rotate the new helmets and traditional style.

Giansante said one of the key components was the transition of blue into orange. While the Jacksonville Jaguars do something similar with their colors, he said that concept provided something unique to Syracuse on the collegiate level.

He expected the new look to make its way into items that fans can buy, like T-shirts, quickly.

"Maybe," he said, when asked if Syracuse had anything else that it would debut this season. "That's a maybe. It's up to the athletes, the football program and Coach Shafer to determine what they need to connect with young kids that they're recruiting."

Syracuse players have known of the new helmets for a few weeks but most of them didn't see the new design until early this week.

Giansante said the new clothing has been part of a process that's gone on for more than a year and included conversations between Nike representatives, players who have graduated and players who are currently on the team.

"I'm excited as hell," Shafer said. "I know the recruits will be really excited. Our players were involved with that whole process and will be as we move forward. It's an awesome thing."